The Armenian team won the 2012 Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey earlier this month. They took the gold narrowly on tie-break ahead of the the top-seeded Russian team after both scored 19 points out of a possible 22. It was the third Armenian triumph in the last four Olympiads, spearheaded by world number two, GM Levon Aronian, who also won the individual gold medal on board one for top individual performance.
The New Zealand Open team soon found veteran IM Paul Garbett was badly out of form. This overshadowed the strong showing by FM Nic Croad on board 2, who scored 6/10 for a performance rating of about 2400. The other team members roughly played to their ratings and so the team result was 97th of the 157 teams, slightly below their seeding.
Today's game is from the first round in Istanbul, when the New Zealand team found itself paired against the highly ranked German team. Croad played enterprisingly with White against GM Igor Khenkin to avert a 4-0 wipeout.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 c6
The GM plays a sideline of the Slav, planning to let his rating advantage of 400 points do the work for him. 4.e3 b5 5.a4 e6 6.axb5 cxb5 7.b3 Bb4+ 8.Bd2 Bxd2+ 9.Nbxd2 a5 10.bxc4 b4
The unbalanced position resembles the Noteboom variation in that Black has ceded the centre in order to secure connected passed pawns on the queenside. The question is whether White can raise suffient threats on the black king before Black's assets tell in the endgame. 11.Ne5 Nf6 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.0-0 0-0 14.f4 Nbd7 15.Bc2 h6
Deviating from Torre – I. Sokolov 1996 when White's attack won through after 15...Qc7. 16.Qe1 Nxe5 17.fxe5 Nd7
Unlike the game above, the white queen is not allowed to get to h4. However, Black's plan has removed defenders from his kingside, so White commits himself to an all-out assault by grabbing the outpost for his knight on d6 at the cost of letting the black pawns advance. 18.Ne4!? b3! 19.Bb1 a4 20.Nd6 Bc6 21.Qd2 Qa5 22.Qd3 f5 23.exf6 Nxf6
It looks as if Black will defend himself after quiet moves such as 24 c5 Ra7 covering the second rank, so White embarks on a sacrificial king hunt. 24.Rxf6! Rxf6 25.Qh7+ Kf8 26.Qh8+ Ke7 27.Qxg7+! Kxd6 28.c5+ Kd5 29.Be4+! Kxe4 30.Qxf6 Kd3
White's mate threats mean the black king cannot avoid perpetual check and he must be careful to avoid a losing continuation such as 30... Kxe3? 31 Rd1 when the opening of the e-file only helps White. The attempt to clear c6 as an escape route doesn't work after either 30... Bd7 31 Rc1 or 30.... Bb5 31 Rd1 when the black king is contained in the centre, though White can't do more than give check. Black tries to hide behind the White pawns but there is no escape. 31.Qf1+ Kc3
Here 31... Kxe3!? was an interesting trap as 32 Rd1? Qd2! (or 32 Re1+ Qxe1!) sacrifices the queen to win the endgame. But White has instead 32 Qf2+ Ke4 33 Qf3+ Kxd4 34 Qf2+ Kc4 35 Rc1+ with perpetual check by the rook as 35...Kb4?? 36 Qd4+ Ka3 37 Ra1 is mate. 32.Rc1+ Kb2 33.Rb1+ Ka3 34.Ra1+ Kb4 35.Qe1+ Kb5 36.Qe2+ Kb4 37.Qe1+ Kb5 38.Qe2+ Kb4 39.Qd2+ Kb5 40.Qd3+ Kb4 41.Qd2+ Kb5 42.Qd3+ Drawn
Olympiad triumph for Armenia
Problem: White to play and mate in 4.
The Armenian team won the 2012 Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey earlier this month. They took the gold narrowly on tie-break ahead of the the top-seeded Russian team after both scored 19 points out of a possible 22. It was the third Armenian triumph in the last four Olympiads, spearheaded by world number two, GM Levon Aronian, who also won the individual gold medal on board one for top individual performance.
The New Zealand Open team soon found veteran IM Paul Garbett was badly out of form. This overshadowed the strong showing by FM Nic Croad on board 2, who scored 6/10 for a performance rating of about 2400. The other team members roughly played to their ratings and so the team result was 97th of the 157 teams, slightly below their seeding.
Today's game is from the first round in Istanbul, when the New Zealand team found itself paired against the highly ranked German team. Croad played enterprisingly with White against GM Igor Khenkin to avert a 4-0 wipeout.
1.d4 d5
2.c4 dxc4
3.Nf3 c6
The GM plays a sideline of the Slav, planning to let his rating advantage of 400 points do the work for him.
4.e3 b5
5.a4 e6
6.axb5 cxb5
7.b3 Bb4+
8.Bd2 Bxd2+
9.Nbxd2 a5
10.bxc4 b4
The unbalanced position resembles the Noteboom variation in that Black has ceded the centre in order to secure connected passed pawns on the queenside. The question is whether White can raise suffient threats on the black king before Black's assets tell in the endgame.
11.Ne5 Nf6
12.Bd3 Bb7
13.0-0 0-0
14.f4 Nbd7
15.Bc2 h6
Deviating from Torre – I. Sokolov 1996 when White's attack won through after 15...Qc7.
16.Qe1 Nxe5
17.fxe5 Nd7
Unlike the game above, the white queen is not allowed to get to h4. However, Black's plan has removed defenders from his kingside, so White commits himself to an all-out assault by grabbing the outpost for his knight on d6 at the cost of letting the black pawns advance.
18.Ne4!? b3!
19.Bb1 a4
20.Nd6 Bc6
21.Qd2 Qa5
22.Qd3 f5
23.exf6 Nxf6
It looks as if Black will defend himself after quiet moves such as 24 c5 Ra7 covering the second rank, so White embarks on a sacrificial king hunt.
24.Rxf6! Rxf6
25.Qh7+ Kf8
26.Qh8+ Ke7
27.Qxg7+! Kxd6
28.c5+ Kd5
29.Be4+! Kxe4
30.Qxf6 Kd3
White's mate threats mean the black king cannot avoid perpetual check and he must be careful to avoid a losing continuation such as 30... Kxe3? 31 Rd1 when the opening of the e-file only helps White. The attempt to clear c6 as an escape route doesn't work after either 30... Bd7 31 Rc1 or 30.... Bb5 31 Rd1 when the black king is contained in the centre, though White can't do more than give check. Black tries to hide behind the White pawns but there is no escape.
31.Qf1+ Kc3
Here 31... Kxe3!? was an interesting trap as 32 Rd1? Qd2! (or 32 Re1+ Qxe1!) sacrifices the queen to win the endgame. But White has instead 32 Qf2+ Ke4 33 Qf3+ Kxd4 34 Qf2+ Kc4 35 Rc1+ with perpetual check by the rook as 35...Kb4?? 36 Qd4+ Ka3 37 Ra1 is mate.
32.Rc1+ Kb2
33.Rb1+ Ka3
34.Ra1+ Kb4
35.Qe1+ Kb5
36.Qe2+ Kb4
37.Qe1+ Kb5
38.Qe2+ Kb4
39.Qd2+ Kb5
40.Qd3+ Kb4
41.Qd2+ Kb5
42.Qd3+ Drawn
½-½
Solution: 1 Qf8+! Kxf6 (1 ... Kh6 2 Qxh7+ Kg5 3 Qh4#) 2 Qf8+ Kg5 (2... Ke5 3 Qf4#) 3 Qf4+ Kh5 4 Qh4#.